How to Create a Nandroid Backup on the Pixel and Pixel XL

Google’s app backup systems leaves much to be desired, so let me show you how to create a full Nandroid backup on the Pixel and Pixel XL with TWRP.

Android has never had the best backup solutions available out of the box. Recently, the company launched an app backup API for developers to utilize, but it’s not mandatory so the number of applications and games that actually use it are hit or miss. This leaves the overall backup and restoration process pretty infuriating on Android.

It’s up to the developers to use the proper APIs for the best user experience, but most just blame Google.

There are some alternative backup and restore solutions though and I want to show you one of these today. If you just want to backup specific applications, then you can use something like Titanium Backup, but it requires root access and does not backup your system partition. So today, I’m going to show you how to create a full Nandroid backup of the Pixel and the Pixel XL.

This method requires that you install TWRP on the Pixel phones, and doing this requires that you have unlocked the bootloader of the Pixel phones. You do not have to have root installed to make this backup though, but having root access will not prevent you from doing this backup.

Pixel Create Nandroid Backup

1. Boot the Pixel in Fastboot Mode
2. So you can boot over into Recovery Mode
3. Tap on the ‘Backup’ button on the left side
4. Make sure all available partitions are selected
5. Choose a custom name for your Nandroid backup (optional)
6. Enable compression for your Nandroid backup (optional)
7. Pick an encryption password for your Nandroid backup (optional)
8. Choose a storage location for your Nandroid backup (optional)
9. Swipe the white arrows to the right to start the backup process
10. Then tap on the ‘Reboot System’ button once the backup has been completed

Explanation

Again, you will need to have the bootloader of the Pixel unlocked, and you’ll also have to have TWRP installed as your custom recovery. Other custom recoveries will also have this backup feature, but the step by step process will likely be different. Once all of that is setup, you can then boot your Pixel or Pixel XL smartphone into Fastboot Mode so that you can boot over into Recovery Mode.

As soon as you reach the TWRP main menu, you can go ahead and tap on the Backup button on the left side of the screen. From here, you have a number of optional things that you can do. If you’re confused at any of these steps, be sure to follow along with the embedded video above as I walk you through the entire process. I highly suggest you pick a custom filename for your backup, but the compression, encryption and storage location steps in the guide above are purely optional.

You will want to make sure all of the available partitions are selected for this backup though. So if you don’t see a check mark to the left of a partition, then tap on the empty box to put one there. Once you have your optional stuff setup, and once all of the available partitions are selected, you can then swipe the white arrows to the right to begin the backup process. The amount of time this backup takes will depend entirely on how much data you have on your smartphone.

My backup was close to 7GB in size and it took just over 8 minutes to complete. If you have a ton of games, apps, photos or videos stored on your phone though, this backup could take longer. Just be patient during this process, but you can also just walk away from the phone while it backs everything up. Once the Pixel Nandroid backup has finished, you can then tap on the Reboot System button that appears at the bottom right of the screen.

In the video, I go back to the TWRP main menu, tap on the Restore button to show you that the Nandroid backup was indeed created, but this isn’t needed. Unless you get some errors during the backup process, you’re safe to assume the backup was completed and that everything went smoothly.